Cgolf

Quite a few years ago I was casting and retrieving a deep diving minnow bait when a seagull mistook it for a baitfish. I got really lucky as I was the only one in the boat. I reeled up the line using the trolling motor to get to it. It was going nuts, and then the weirdest thing happened. Since I had nothing to lose at this point and I was the only one around, I talked to the bird and it calmed right down and I was able to pop the hook out with very little damage to his beak. Since then I have tried this on technique with psycho pike and it seems to help, maybe it just calms me down and they pick up on it, who knows. My Blue Heron story thankfully did not end up with a hooked bird. I was River fishing for smallies in very thick fog. As the sun started to come up, the fog started to break and I saw what at first I thought was a person wading, but turned out to be a Blue Heron right where I had thrown a bunch casts food smallies. Scared the bejeezers out of me. They are pretty cool birds, but this year they have been very skittish around me, so sadly I am guessing people are scaring them off.

I have been fishing a shallow rocky stretch for years, 1-4 fow, and have kept a log since 2007. The two baits that have separated themselves from the field are the smaller yum Crawbug and the Bandit 100. There really aren't any lures with close to the numbers of those two. The Ned rig with a Zinkerz can also be a good option, I find the TRD to snag up more.

I got my first and so far only 20" smallie late summer last year fishing a shallow stretch of river in 2-4 fow. She hit a pearl Ned rig that was allowed to bounce along the rocks. Pretty ho hum catch until I recognized the fish, it has a very distinct mouth. I first caught this fish 7 years ago as my first fly rod smallie, so she got 2 firsts for me. Released her to hopefully catch her at least once more. While 20" isn't a monster for some waters, it is for this river, get quite a few in the 17-18' range, but took 10 years to get a 20".

If you search on Z man you will find some, but it looks like a couple of threads got unpinned recently, the zman storage response and the Ned rig thread. Not sure why that happened.

Loosely mimic the hatch. That is why firetiger is so good up here, has a little perch, gill, and pumpkinseed all in one bait. Not sure how much of a shad base we have up north here in WI, guessing not much. Guessing shad baits work so well for you because um well you are matching the hatch;)

I will preface this by saying this is for river fish which rules out a lot of baits. Bandit 100 has been my top producer over the years. The SK 1.0 along with the mini 3 and the newer SK shallow SB have done well for me too. The larger SK square bills really have disappointed me though, the smallies just don't like them or I am fishing the wrong. Others that do ok, scatter rap crank and the smallest size of the old Luhr Jenson Brush baby, I got a ton of them for like a buck a pop a long time ago.

For me both caught fish, just that the RES caught a lot more. Both are good, but have more confidence in the RES right now, subject to change at any time. As for the original trap, I don't believe I have ever caught a fish on one.

Not sure if this fits the bill, but we hit a couple of sales on particular baits that I use often and I have a ton of spares of these lures that may never see water. Also have a lot of soft plastics that were purchased, but I have yet to use. It is probably more than I want to admit. Do I stop buying no, but I should.

As long as you paddle up on the side they aren't casting too or give them a wave and shout before you are in plunking distance you are fine.

Worst I have ever seen was somebody was impatient and checked out their brain when they fired up their bass/musky boat. I fish a lake with a shallow narrow sandbar between the two bodies of water that you can run on plane in good conditions, gets to about a foot or so. Well this day we had solid 3 foot stacked waves as I was pulling in the lake to fish and their was another small boat ahead of me. I heard a boat coming to the sandbar and a 21 footer on plane ran between us, I just couldn't believe it, especially in those conditions. When I saw these guys bass fishing later I never did see them catch anything so maybe karma caught up to them. A funny thing did happen this year on the same lake. Since I was windy I did some dock fishing. I have a rule that I don't fish docks that people are out on, or near. But one dock I pulled up to fish someone had their birdcage out on it, and I ended up not fishing it because the crazy birds raised holy heck when we got close to the dock. Not sure I will ever see that happen again lol.

If you have never tried one toss in a Bandit 100. I looked at a few other baits, but they have a lot of items listed as backorderable and not in stock. Must have to do with the sale/pending sale to bps.

I believe that Sage made their bass fly rods 8 footers for this exact reason so that they could be used. At times I have fly fished for bass and done well on tough bites, and it really isn't that inefficient.

The Norman Redear deep little N has been really good for me over the years in both clear and stained water. The SK RES in bluegill is very similar to that color.

Since these threads are popular now, toss in one of my own. The answers will of course vary by region. For Wisconsin, if I was limited to one color it would be firetiger hands down. This catches fish in every water color including gin clear water. The reasoning is that this has a little bit off perch, gill, and pumpkinseed in it. That pretty much nails the main forage base up here. I am curious to see what everyone else comes up with and of course why.

Bandit 100 gets the nod for me slightly over the Yum crawbug rigged on a slider head. The only reason the Bandit gets the nod is it has shined on both rivers and lakes, the crawbug has caught a few more fish, but have only fished it on the the river. There really isn't a bait that comes close to these two for now, maybe a Ned rigged Zinkerz, but that has shown too many weaknesses to be the one to go to.

Bandit 100, on the river color really hasn't mattered. Fished them for years and have plenty of backups.

This is why I was interested in the book, the location factor. I will never fish a spoonplug and the closest I will come to trolling for bass is catching one while walleye trolling. I have mostly been a shallow water fisherman who will dabble with deep cranks when the shallow bite is off. I would like to up my deepwater game in the future.

On pressured lakes, I go old school baits like tubes and grubs that do a pretty good job of looking like something real to eat, the fish seem to never be able to resist a natural looking meal. Also agree with everyone else in saying giving larger baits a try, or baits like the old Xcalibur SB that just pushed a ton of water, the 200 size especially, that fished like a bigger bait than it was. Also mindset is huge, I you believe you will get bit chances are will you fish harder and more focused. If you are beat before you get on the water your fishing will be sloppy and you will miss out on fish. I can't get with Rick Clunn though that fish can pick up on negative vibes, except when my wife is in the boat and she rarely gets a bite lol.

Yum crawbug on a jig or slider head works great in rivers for all sizes of smallies. Buy the size that matches the craws in your river, for me the smaller crawbug works best. Also like a tube they are hollow and you can put some gel scent in them to give you the extra bit to set the hook which isn't always easy in current with the line getting tugged offline by the current causing a slight lag in the hookset. Bandit 100's and the Strike King shallow model square bill have been solid for me. And of course the NED rig, I have caught everything from gills to the biggest smallies in the river on that bait the last 2 years.

Thanks guys, it gets put on the Christmas list for some over the winter reading.

Is this a good book to read and have on hand and possibly reread? I have a couple of older books, slider fishing and lunkers love nightcrawlers that I reread from time to time because they have a lot of good info in them. Should I pick this book up or pass on it?

This ^^^^ I have one box of tubes and grubs that always goes with me because I know that I could catch numbers and some of the biggest fish on any body of water I go to. I learned this summer that on a slider style head they are a great dock fishing bait. I carry the standard darker colors and a lot of smoke flake colors for when I am fishing them off the bottom. I probably throw a tube 50% of the time when fishing lakes. The Ned rig has replaced it for the time on the river, that is until I get my hands on the TRD tube. The cover I prefer to toss them in reeds, weedbeds, lily pads, and the above mentioned docks during spring summer and fall. The only place I haven't really fished them is on the deep weededge, but to be fair I don't fish any plastic in that situation. It is a confidence thing for me, while I am sure that finesse worms and other baits would catch fish, these just fit my fishing style perfectly. Also tubes hold gel scents really well. Putting a little in the cavity gives them a shot of scent when they bite down giving them even more reason to hold on longer.

The first one is a slam dunk I believe, overstock bait site. The second I have lurked on for a couple of years but haven't purchased from, another site. They seem to have a lot of colors other places don't have and prices seem fair, so I was curious if anyone uses that site since I have never seen it mentioned here. Since this site doesn't even get the ******* treatment it gets deleted, I assume it is a no go then. It is tough though to figure out if you should trust a site, must make it tough for the little guys.

I have two, I really like the swing oil J Tubes and also the Anglers Choice Killshot. I use the 4" killshot on a slider jig and it swims like a leech. Killshot also is a nice DS bait

Not exactly the issue you had, but I had one rigged that I fished today, and while it didn't rip, it is showing more wear and tear after one fish vs Zinkerz after many. The TRD seems like a more dense plastic overall vs the Zinkerz and I don't get the float or movement out of them. Overall not impressed, but they do catch fish so not all is lost. In the future I will stick with the Zinkerz. The TRDs that I have were bought this year.